Designer of 1960s American Airlines logo tells Businessweek what he really thinks of AA's new logo

"It has no sense of permanence," he told the news magazine. "The American flag has 13 stripes, right? Not 11. Did American add only 11 stripes [to the flag on the tail] because they are in Chapter 11? I don't think two more stripes would have been a disaster."

And in the interview, Vignelli reveals that he didn't want the eagle in the logo he designed in the 1960s. While some aviation enthusiasts and Twitter folks have lamented the loss of the eagle in American's new design, Vignelli is happy to have an eagle-less logo.

"I refused to do it. We started without it, and the pilots threatened to
go on strike because they wanted the eagle on American Airlines. There’s
always been the eagle. But I wanted the eagle to be real. As a matter
of fact, the post office eagle, I think, is terrific. If you do an
eagle, do an eagle with the dignity of an eagle. Don’t make Mickey Mouse
out of an eagle. That was my theory at the time. The office of Henry
Dreyfuss did the eagle. They were hired to do the interior of the
planes. They were the office that originally gave us the assignment of
the corporate identity. Dreyfuss was the consultant to American
Airlines. The eagle was OK. It wasn’t great. I’m not sorry to see the
eagle go," Vignelli said.

Comments

it looks like a flying hot dog stand.and as far as the new commercial,who was the other idiot who made this up. if you really want to make a stupid commercial do this. look. up in the sky. its a bird, its a plane no its a greyhound bus with wings.some Texan had to create this one.